An Obsession with All Things Handmade and Home-Cooked

Crazy Kiwis

As deadlines loom and reviews pile up, the oven as been eerily quiet and cold. My ideas for new recipes continue to accumulate and grow by the day like overgrown weeds, and yet I don’t have a minute to cut it down to size. Luckily, it seems that there’s finally a light at the end of the tunnel, and the manuscript is just over a week away from the printer. Everyone needs to take a break every now and then, so with the finish line now in sight, I figured it was only fair to dive into some of the luscious summer produce I had been spying at the market and make it into a suitable decadent dessert. Although my wish list for exotic and unusual fruit could fill a novel, I settled upon the first rare delicacy I could find: Kiwis.

True, they are certainly not unheard of or quite so esoteric these days, but it’s still hard for me to hunt them down locally. Having had such little experience with them, I figured something fairly basic would be a good place to start, so a simply kiwi tart it was. Out came the sturdy ceramic tart pan and I wasted no time prepping the fruits. Slicing carefully and admiring their lurid green flesh, flecked with the deep black seeds, the world around me disappeared. The sound of the knife filled my head, cleaving smoothly through the firm fruit, tapping quietly and rhythmically like a metronome as it hit the cutting board. Each cut slice glistened with juice, seeming to sparkle in the light, and I could only feel what a wondrous thing it was to be back in the kitchen again. Losing myself in the moment so completely, who knows what sort of craziness must have occurred during this mental vacation, because there was one shocking sight awaiting me when I looked up.

A kiwi! And not the fruits that I had just been admiring, but the national bird of New Zealand! Sitting right there in my tart pan like it was ready to go in the oven along with the fruit of its namesake, I could write volumes about how wrong this whole scene was. Watching me prep ingredients as if it were as distant as a cooking show on tv, the little guy seemed not the least bit bothered by its uncomfortable-looking seat or proximity to a human with a knife. As a typically shy, nocturnal bird found only halfway across the world, there was simply no conceivable explanation!

This development certainly threw a wrench in my baking plans, to say the least. Off went the oven, away went the flour and sugar. Not wanting to evict my curious guest from the former baking dish, it didn’t look like there would be any tarts to be made today. At a loss of words, the only course of action I could think of was to offer him a slice of the cut fruit… Which he gladly accepted, to my relief. Munching happily as if this were all the most normal thing in the world, I can’t help but wonder if I’m losing my mind. Truly, if only I could understand any of this, my dear readers… But perhaps it’s just an indication that I had better get more sleep instead of shirking deadlines by baking!

I know that these bizarre flightless birds do have quite a few fans out there who would love to get as close to these marvels as I did… But since I have no clue how it all happened, the best I can do is give you a pattern to make your own!

With size 5 straight needles and the same yarn as used for the beak, CO 25 sts
K each st
BO 5 sts, k to end
K to end, CO 5 sts
BO 5 sts, k to end
K to end, CO 5
K each st
CO, leaving a long tail

To Assemble: First take one foot and weave the long tail back through the 5 sts of the toe. Fold the leg in half and use that length of yarn to sew the long edges together, forming a long tube for the leg. Repeat with the other foot piece. Sew each leg to the bottom of the bird body and tie tightly, weaving in ends when satisfied with the placement. Lightly stuff the wide opening of the beak, and sew to bird face. Just weave in those ends and you’re ready to have plenty of your own bizarre adventures!

gah!! I am totally making that. My bf has a friend from New Zealand and we found him a Ty Beanie that was a kiwi that we gifted him. We were so sad to give him up we ended up getting a beanie baby of the Kiwi that we keep in the car. He actually “escaped” the other night but was rediscovered the next day. I think he needs a knit buddy!!!

SOOOOO ADORABLE!! and I love the little story, haha. Not only are kiwis one of my all-time favorite fruits (have you ever tried the Golden Kiwis, which are yellow instead of green?), but my dog’s name is Kiwi (so my family always jokes about her and the fruit – long story, haha). Thanks for providing the pattern to make the lovely Kiwi Bird!! :0)

I was referred to your blog by Teeni, who thought I would get a kick out of this post. And I did!! I’m a New Zealander (we call ourselves “Kiwis”) and our house is overflowing with kiwifruit :-) My kids adore them.
Your wee kiwi bird is very cute indeed – I wish I could knit as I would definitely make one! My youngest son has 2 stuffed kiwis that both make a kiwi noise when they are squeezed … very cute!

I saw a picture of the kiwi bird at flickr and had to come take a look. What a great pattern, and a fun post. I want to make one for my daughter now — she already loves kiwi fruit so it seems appropriate!

just came across your blog, love it so much! All these incredibly fun A……Japanese word I forget how to spell creatures. I immediately want to make some chickens for paper weights for a few friends. I don’t know how to do anything more complicated with legs etc., hope to learn in the future. I love the design of your blog, colourful, eye-catching, definitely NOT boring!

I might even try some vegan food, certainly open to change in diet.

Thanks for the freebie patterns too. You are very talented and creative.

Wow! so wonderful!!!!
I knit it and also translated your instructions into Hebrew (of course I gave you all the credit and linked to your blog) – http://www.tapuz.co.il/blog/viewEntry.asp?EntryId=1269442
I hope it’s OK? If not please let me know and I’ll take the translated instructions down right away!
Thank you for the wonderful instructions (and your whole blog is great!)

All your patterns so adorable.. I love it especially the crochet ones bcoz I am not into knitting but after saw this pattern… maybe I must think again about knitting… I will try it even I am not too confidence about my knitting ability :(… so lovely kiwi bird..

Thanks for this, you are saving my bacon, my overseas daughter (24y) (in Canada) has asked for a ‘knitted kiwi’ your creation is just perfect, will get out the needles today and have a go. Many thanks again.

Great to come across a kiwi bird knit pattern. Thank you. Would you have any other NZ toy knit patterns such as a tuatara (lizard), native birds, an All Black rugby player etc by any chance? I’m a NZer in the coolest little capital in the world – Wellington, NZ according to the Lonely Planet guidebook and yes where the Lord of the Rings was filmed and produced. Enough of bragging now. Hi there all you kiwis out there.

A Kiwi! I can’t believe it! You are my hero! Each year my kids’ classes pick an animal name and this year I promised to knit all the students in each class an ami animal…then they came home and told me their class names were the Kiwis and the Wolverines! Now to find a wolverine! Thank you from a room full of Kiwis!

I am a beginner knitter and want to knit this toy for my friend’s baby and was wondering if you could help me with the difficult part: ‘K4, w&t, p6′ The w&t part confuses me a bit. If I understand the video then you turn first and then wrap the unknitted stitch … am I correct? So shouldn’t the term be t&w?

Sorry I do that first of all!
I knitt 4 on the RS and when W&T the next, 5th stich, I have only 4 stiches to purl to the begining of the row not all others stiches, its stay to the right needle.
You mean that I have to knitt thats 4 and 2 from the other row?

Thank you so much for the pattern! I have knitted two – one brown one for my daughter’s NZ boyfriend, and a white one for her – she has just started a homecrafted candle business in Sydney called LittleWhiteKiwi! They both turned out great.